On February 8, 2018, I along with three other presenters (Dr Everett Allen, an internist who worked for several years at California Pelican Bay State Prison’s solitary confinement, a UCSF Public Health and Criminal Justice researcher Cyrus Ahalt, and Steven Czifra who was confined in solitary confinement for 8 years and is now is a U.C. Berkeley MSW intern) presented on the relevance of solitary confinement to community psychiatry to my colleagues at the California Contra Costa County Psychiatry and Psychology monthly meeting. Solitary confinement is being held in a small cell for 22 to 24 hours a day with minimal property and minimal meaningful human contact. We reviewed the overwhelming evidence of the physical and psychological harms of solitary confinement. In addition, we discussed the ethical dilemmas for providers as they participate in this practice.

Canada declared solitary confinement unconstitutional in Jan 2018. A few months later India too acknowledged this preventable harm. When will this nation reach this decision? On any given day in USA, 100,000 are held in these extreme conditions, some unconscionably for years and decades. 50% of suicides occur in these restrictive segregation, and self injurious behaviors are rampant. This is preventable. We as providers will see these individuals as patients when released, 95% will be released. As community members, we will walk, shop, eat, live with them. Do we want traumatized human beings or rehabilitated individuals? As providers, is it ethical to declare someone fit for this high risk containment? This is what is happening…we are witnesses and participants.

Some of you may feel this issue does not pertain to your field. Ethical guidelines of “first do no harm” and human rights concern us all.

I am hoping you will join me in signing this petition I wrote to end prolonged solitary confinement (greater than 15 days) in U.S. jails, prisons, and detention centers.

If you are a medical provider of any specialty, a psychologist, a SW, a NP or a PA please consider signing and forwarding to other of our colleagues.

Sincerely,Mariposa McCall, MD
Psychiatrist

The petition is directed to the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychology Association, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Physician Assistants, and National Association of Social Workers. Here is an excerpt:

…. Lastly, we pledge that solitary confinement is in direct violation of our code of ethics as healers, knowing the risks of such placement. Rule 43 of the Mandela Rules of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners prohibits both indefinite solitary confinement and prolonged solitary confinement (defined as lasting more than 15 days).

Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 57, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, to break the cycle of incarceration by prioritizing rehabilitation and reintegration. Now, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) needs to implement the law in the way voters intended. But, CDCR is trying to unfairly limit who can be considered for parole or released under Prop 57. CDCR’s proposed regulations disproportionately exclude people of color, prisoners with mental illness, young offenders, and low-risk offenders from the benefits of Prop 57. Please use the below resources to demand that CDCR fixes their draft rules.

Please Send Your Comments directly to CDCR by this Friday, September 1, 2017. Here are several ways to make your voice heard. Use them all if you can!

Come Out to the Prop 57 Regulations Hearing! In addition to sending written comments, you can come out to Prop 57 Regulations hearing in Sacramento. If you want to attend, please sign up here. Info is below:Friday, September 1, 2017 9:00am-12:00pm
Dept of Water Resources Building Auditorium
1416 Ninth St. Sacramento, CA 95814

Donate to Support Initiate Justice! Initiate Justice is a small, volunteer team that cannot do this work without the support of individual donations.Please donate $10, $25, or $50 right now to help pay for stamps to mail the regulations to people inside and support our mobilizations to Sacramento. Every dollar helps!

More on CDCR’s proposed regulations for Prop 57…

There are three main problems with the proposed regulations:

(1) The proposed regulations exclude people who are serving life sentences under the Three Strikes law for nonviolent crimes. Prop. 57 promised to apply to all nonviolent prisoners.

(2) The proposed regulations exclude young offenders eligible for parole under SB 260 and 261. At its core, Prop. 57 promised to correct over incarceration of young offenders and encourage positive rehabilitative programming—there is no justifiable reason to undermine the positive reforms of SB 260 and 261.

(3) The proposed regulations do not apply new programming credits to people who have been dedicated to rehabilitation for years, or decades. There is no reason why benefits of Prop. 57 should not apply retroactively to cover genuine rehabilitation programming in the past.

We call on the CDCR to implement the following recommendations to the Prop 57 Regular Regulations:

Allow all people in prison to earn 50% good time credits.

Make all good time credit earning retroactive.

Include Third Strikers in the non-violent early parole.

Award retroactive Education Merit Credits for each achievement.

Allow every person with a Youth Offender Parole Date or Elderly Parole Date to earn time off of their earliest parole date.

We, the undersigned, believe that giving prisoners access to visits from family and friends is an essential part of rehabilitation. Research shows that building relationships with the community is one of the surest ways to prevent recidivism, once people are released. It is a matter of public safety. We therefore petition the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California State Legislature to restore 2 more days of visiting time each week. By doing so, people will no longer experience the frustration of not being able to schedule appointments due to limited time slots. This will accommodate those who work weekends, and more visits can take place.

We recommend that visits be resumed from 3-8 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, beginning with the following institutions: Solano, Lancaster, Kern Valley, Salinas Valley, Centinela, California State Prison (CSP)-Corcoran and Substance Abuse Training Facility (SATF)-Corcoran. Other institutions close to population centers, or experiencing high demand for visiting, should be added as soon as possible.

April 26, 2017: About 30 people inside of Robert Presley Detention Center and at least one in Southwest Detention Center in Riverside, CA have been on hunger strike since April 13, 2017. Jail administrators have yet to meet with the strikers to address their concerns. The Riverside County Jails’ conditions undermine the prisoners’/detainees’ rights and dignity.

WOMEN ON HUNGER STRIKE IN ROBERT PRESLEY DETENTION CENTER
Reports from April 26, 2017 are that some women prisoners in Robert Presley Detention Center have joined in the hunger strike. They too have stopped eating. We will share more information as we learn it, reaching out for family members of those women. We expect there may be additional issues for the women prisoners that they are striking about. We will find out.

14 DAYS WITHOUT EATING
Four people on hunger strike in Robert Presley Detention Center have passed out. Three of them have had trips to outside medical facilities. Riverside Sheriff’s Dept. runs the Robert Presley and has been retaliating, trying to intimidate the hunger strikers. For almost two weeks, they have not allowed family visits, and they limited phone access, cut off all commissary, and levied rules violations1against the people on peaceful hunger strike. On April 26, Day 14 of the Hunger Strike, we learned that visits, telephone, and commissary have been restored and the rules violations withdrawn. Outside pressure stopped that retaliation! It is well past time for the Riverside Board of Supervisors and Sheriff’s Dept. to meet with the strikers and address the reasons for the strike- inhumane and needlessly restrictive policies!

⇒MAY DAY RALLY!Join a Rally on Monday, May 1st in support of the Hunger Strikers on their 17th day. More details will be out soon.
Our Rally will be alongside the May Day Marches and Rallies honoring International Workers Day and Immigrant Rights Day.

Hunger Strikers have been released from solitary with handshakes and hugs. In 90 days, Strikers will be able to downclass in to general population. Additional clothing has been ordered. The sheriff’s department has agreed to subsidize lowering Commissary prices through the Welfare Fund. The Hunger Strike will continue its suspension until lasting changes are met.

The community can still put pressure in the form of a petition to insure lasting change in classification, administration, and Gang Intel both in policy and practice.

“Dying to Live” Humanitarian Food Refusal Campaign Against Torture On June 10, 2016, Wisconsin prisoners held in long term solitary confinement at Waupun Correctional Institution and Columbia Correctional Institution began a “Food Refusal Campaign.” They wish to bring the horror of prolonged solitary confinement to the public’s attention and to end this torturous practice throughout Wisconsin prisons. Solitary confinement for more than 15 days has been deemed “torture” by the United Nations, but the Wisconsin Department of Corrections holds prisoners in isolation for decades. Join us in supporting these prisoners who are making a courageous sacrifice for human rights, dignity, and an end to solitary torture.

Social isolation, sensory deprivation and forced idleness are now recognized as seriously harmful to human beings. Solitary confinement has been condemned, not only by prisoners, former prisoners and their families, but also by mental health professionals, academics, the religious community, the United Nations, President Obama, Supreme Court Justice Kennedy and even some prison officials. It is unfortunate that Wisconsin prisoners have to resort to a hunger strike to be heard by prison officials and other authorities.

Participation in a collective hunger strike requires bravery, social commitment, mental strength and a willingness to risk one’s own well-being. Hunger strikes are not entered into lightly and must be taken seriously. The six humanitarian demands of these hunger strikers are reasonable.

Like the Wisconsin prisoners today, in 2011 and 2013 California prisoners protested prolonged solitary confinement by participating in peaceful hunger strikes. Those actions led to significant changes to California’s prison policies. We urge Wisconsin officials to re-examine and change their own policies, meet with the hunger strikers and meaningfully resolve these human rights issues amicably and speedily.

Erika was 14 years old when she was charged as an adult. Interrogated by police and prosecutors and threatened with a double life sentence for attempted murder, Erika pled to 19 to Life. Erika was 16 years old when she was sent to state prison. Prison staff placed her in solitary to “protect her” until she was 17, but she told CCWP that guards admitted to keeping her in solitary to protect the prison because she was too young to legally be there. At the time of her death, Erika was serving her 19th year in prison following two years in juvenile hall. She suffered from deplorable treatment for mental health issues attributable to her incarceration as a youth, including at least four indefinite terms of 2-3 years in solitary confinement.

“We are continuing to gather information, but we know that the day before her death, Erika was released from a suicide watch unit and placed in a mental health unit where CIW is still required to take precautions to prevent deaths,” said Colby Lenz, CCWP member. “Multiple institutions, including CIW and CDCR, are responsible for this tragedy. We demand a full investigation into the ongoing crisis and high suicide rate at CIW. We ask the California Legislature to order the Office of the Inspector General to take action immediately.”

CCWP Program Coordinator, Windy Click, who met Erika in prison when she was 19, said, “Erika was always seeking help, she was lost inside an adult facility not knowing what the future held. When she asked for help they didn’t bother to help her.”

“Erika’s death is a painful example of how the criminal justice system is broken and therefore breaks people. They did this to her. She obviously didn’t see any future for herself,” said another friend of Erika’s who was also incarcerated in state prison at 16.

The win effectively ended indefinite long-term solitary confinement, and greatly limited the prison administration’s ability to use the practice, widely seen as a form of torture.

Now, there is a dangerous practice in California prisons of guards doing so-called “security/welfare” checks every 30 minutes, 48 times a day. These checks are only being done in the isolation units, causing ongoing sleep deprivation for those prisoners.

AB 1652 takes a significant step forward in reforming solitary confinement by specifying that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) may only place prisoners into SHUs for serious rule violations. As a result, CDCR could no longer place people into SHUs indefinitely for allegedly having a connection to a gang.

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Reportback from HEARING in Jorge Rico’s Case Against Sleep-Depriving Checks-Report on Jorge Rico Hearing by Charlie Hinton A number of hardy souls ventured to Sacramento on May 18, 2018 to a federal court hearing on CDCr’s motion to dismiss Jorge Rico’s suit opposing the every half hour Guard One “security/welfare checks” that take place in isolation units throughout the state. With Guard One, guards […]

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